I had the pleasure of exchanging a few emails over the years. Very nice man. Did much of the most memorable classic jazz of the 50's, including a significant amount of Elington which the article largely doesn't mention.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/obit ... scout.html

R.I.P.

He was the George Martin of the Jazz world (not totally accurate but it was the best analogy I could think of).

Not a bad analogy. Certainly John Hammond's successor & from what I've read about Hammond a much nicer person.

His taste in Jazz was massively influential, in terms of what particular pieces ended up being thought of as the most important 'standards' and so on, as well as who was considered to be important. He also discovered a lot of forgotten recordings that might never have come to light without his diligent research.

RIP.

Here's a really nice tribute from Ricky Ricciardi, the Historian at The Louis Armstrong House Museum. It's quite long so I'm just going to post the link.

http://dippermouth.blogspot.com/

Nice article.

RIP.

R.I.P.

From left, Louis Armstrong, the songwriter W.C. Handy and George Avakian in the 1950s. Mr. Avakian helped popularize the long-playing record and organized the first jazz reissue series, preserving the recorded legacies of Armstrong and other pioneers. Credit Columbia Records

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/obit ... scout.html

Excellent Obit as always by The New York Times.